Brussels, 23/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - EU home affairs ministers, meeting in Nicosia on Monday, discussed the situation in Syria and began preparation of their response to a possible migration crisis in the countries which neighbour Syria and in the EU.
Ministers were to debate both the need to help neighbouring countries (Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey) take in refugees fleeing the fighting between the forces of Bashar El-Assad and the Free Syrian Army and on how to deal with Syrian asylum seekers looking for protection in the EU.
At their informal Council meeting, the ministers were also expected to discuss the EU's ability to repatriate Westerners still in Syria, the Cypriot Presidency having prepared a plan that can be activated immediately to repatriate the 200,000 European and third country nationals thought still to be in the country. Cyprus is ready to provide emergency accommodation for these Westerners and already has the necessary infrastructure in place, Cypriot Home Affairs Minister Eleni Mavrou said on Sunday 21 July. Cyprus will be able to provide accommodation for 48 hours before they have to move on to their countries of origin. The island took in between 65,000 and 70,000 people during the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006, the Presidency noted.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told the ministers that some 115,000 people had so far found refuge in four of Syria's neighbours - Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. Commissioner Cecilia Malmström wanted especially to highlight the contribution by Turkey which, to date, has taken 42,000 refugees. Ministers were due also to discuss whether or not there was a need for a “regional protection programme”.
This kind of instrument, operated by the European Union in conjunction with the UN High Commission for Refugees and already deployed in several regions of the globe, seeks to provide medium- and long-term support for the ability of third countries to cope with an influx of refugees. Funding is provided, for example, to reinforce infrastructure on the ground or to promote the integration of the refugees locally. The programme also helps governments and NGOs in these countries to identify the refugees most at risk, whose needs cannot be satisfied in the “protection” countries and who have to be settled elsewhere, in this instance, in the EU. On Monday, the member states made no quantified commitment on the settlement of Syrian refugees in the EU. They merely discussed the shape such a programme could take and the technical details, but postponed any decision until later. Discussion will continue at the next formal meeting of ministers, scheduled for 19 September. In Nicosia, the member states also had the opportunity to discuss how to respond to asylum requests made by Syrian nationals in member states. Almost 12,000 Syrians have arrived in the EU, principally in Germany, Sweden, France and Belgium, since the outbreak of the troubles in mid-2011. However, “everyone agreed that there has been no major influx so far” a Council source revealed. Ministers attempted to coordinate their policies on Syrian asylum seekers and stressed that no Syrian national guilty of crimes that could be described as crimes against humanity should be granted protection in the EU.
Discussions in Nicosia also homed in on short-term assistance, Commissioner Malmström said, by means of humanitarian aid for the region. This issue was on the agenda of a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. The Commission announced in a press release on Monday that it was doubling its aid and had allocated a further €20 million (see related articles) taking its total assistance to Syria and neighbouring countries to €63 million. (SP/transl.rt)